What 'Idol' needs to do in Season 10: Revive its commercial clout

If American Idol wants to reinvigorate its brand in its pivotal 10th season, it will need to do several things. As we've already discussed here, it needs to refocus on its contestants, rid itself of the "mean judge" archetype and crown a different type of winner.

Simon Fuller conceived Idol as a television show that would launch superstar music careers. Over the years, though, the show itself has overshadowed most of the entertainers it has produced. This season needs to bring the two a bit closer to balance. So the next thing Idol needs to do in Season 10 is …

#4 Revive Idol's commercial clout.

Question: What's the single worst thing that could happen to American Idol this year?

Answer: Releasing a winner's album this fall that sells fewer than 100,000 units during the Christmas season, just as X Factor hits its stride.

Don't expect the forces behind the show to let that happen.

Idol desperately needs a hit this year, not just to brace the show's flagging ratings but to keep X Factor, which is sure to receive all sorts of hype from the moment it premieres, from making it look like old news.

If X Factor turns out to be the smash here that it became in Britain, Idol can't afford to have critics pointing to a dud release as proof how the show's shine has faded in comparison to the glitzy newcomer. So don't be surprised if the next Idol winner doesn't release an album this November.

It might come much, much sooner.

If previous winners thought they had a crazy schedule in the weeks after their coronation, they may not have seen anything compared to what this year's champion could go through.

In years past, Idol winners spent their downtime during the summer meeting with producers, listening to song demos or having writing appointments, squeezing in a few recording sessions on days off before starting the album in earnest at the end of the American Idols Live tour.

This year, she or he might not have that luxury.

Idol's already gotten rid of the guest mentor, who usually provided little more than eye candy for the show, in favor of Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine. Iovine, a kingmaker if such a thing still exists in today's music industry, will serve as the in-hour mentor, and he'll likely become the show's new voice of authority.

Believe me, contestants will have every bit as tough a time impressing Iovine as they did Cowell, who at least had to consider how his comments would come across on television. Iovine doesn't have a stake in the show: He's going to be completely focused on turning this season's American Idol into a true superstar, and he'll have no intention of letting somebody who's not up to the task get even close to that crown.

Under Idol's new partnership with the Universal Music Group, Iovine reportedly brought in top-name producers to start working with contestants while Idol was still in its Top 60 rounds. Expect some of these producers to stick around the entire season: This is the equivalent of the producers' meetings previous winners have taken after the show. By the time this season ends, the top finalists will already have working relationships with their producers.

So don't be surprised if there's new music -- by which I mean something more substantive than a generically inspirational coronation song trotted out as a souvenir single -- available the minute the confetti cannons blast. It might come even sooner. There's talk Idol might introduce new songs, by established hit songwriters, during the course of the season. Few things could help ratings for the show's finale more than a big hit single emerging from one of its contestants two or three weeks out.

It's entirely possible that, during the season's final weeks, producers and songwriters will already be at work creating and gathering material for albums for the contestants that last the longest. That way, whoever wins -- and whichever other contestants 19 Entertainment wants to keep -- can go into the studio the minute they've finished running the post-win press gauntlet. They could record during the month between the end of the Idol season and the start of the American Idols Live tour, then release the album in the summer before the tour's even finished.

If they do that, they have a chance to keep the buzz around the show's best contestants going all the way up to the launch of X Factor. Can you imagine anything Simon Fuller and the rest of the Idol crew would like more?

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About Brian Mansfield

Nashville-based Brian Mansfield began writing about music for USA TODAY in 1997 and took over Idol Chatter just before the start of Season 8. He co-authored Make Me a Star: Industry Insiders Reveal How to Make It in Music, and while he has never auditioned for American Idol, he did sing Boot Scootin' Boogie at Disney World's American Idol Experience the day the attraction opened (he lost). More about Brian | E-mail Brian